During a public hearing organised by the Constitutional Affairs and Petitions committee, a number of stakeholders criticised the ECI as flawed.

Citizen participation initiatives brought by the Lisbon Treaty, like the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI), have struggled with a number of organisational and technical glitches.

Presenting the experiences of ECI users at Thursday’s hearing, Carsten Berg, coordinator for The ECI Campaign, summarised challenges encountered by early ECI campaigns detailed in the publication, An ECI That Works.

“It makes ECI organisers use burdensome procedures. It frightens away citizens by demanding sensitive personal data. Then it lets the Commission dismiss successful ECIs, with no real action. Campaigners tell us that the ECI must be redesigned or it won’t be used,” he added.

The ECI allows one million citizens to invite the European Commission to propose a legal act to implement the treaties. Set out in article 11.4 of the Treaty of Lisbon, it has been in use since 1 April 2012.

Speaking at the hearing, Frans Timmermans, First Vice-President of the European Commission, admitted that the ECI has not worked well enough and took personal responsibility to improve it so that it does not disappear. He described the ECI as one of many building blocks to create more trust between citizens and EU institutions. He also expressed a desire for the ECI to become a platform for political dialogue and not only a legal instrument.

The Commission will submit a report on its implementation to the Council and Parliament before 1 April 2015.

Copernican Revolution
“The European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) is a keystone of participative democracy but the shortfalls in its implementation and in its follow-up could waste its potential”, said Constitutional Affairs Committee chair, Danuta Hübner during the hearing.

“I am afraid that we have not yet quite absorbed this new reality in which citizens are co-equal to the EP and the Council with respect to asking the European Commission to initiate a legislative proposal which is, in fact, a Copernican Revolution in the European institutional landscape,” she insisted.

In 2012 and 2013, interest in the ECI was high. Over 46 ECIs were submitted to the Commission, but only 26 were registered, three succeeded, and none led to any meaningful action. Consequently, in 2014, the ECI’s use collapsed. Only three ECIs are now active.

“The EU itself loses the most when the ECI isn’t used. Early ECIs helped to create public dialogue, enhance cross-border understanding and bring new ideas and voices to Brussels. A reformed and re-launched ECI could further democratise the EU by improving decision-makers’ interactions with and responsiveness to citizens, Berg insisted.

“The EU Commission argues that dialogue takes place. The problem is that the dialogue is not structured and not transparent. The treaty change is an opportunity to come up with a legal base,” said aid Alexandrina Najmowicz, director of the European Civic Forum.

Campaigners called on EU leaders to tear down the walls blocking participatory democracy, reform the ECI and let in fresh thinking and new perspectives.

“Ultimately, that’s the only way to sustain the Union,” Berg said.

NGOs and civil society organisations demanded “a new wave of inclusiveness” and more citizens’ participation in EU decision-making in July last year, pushing to put treaty change back on the political table.

The platform Europe+ gathers several prominent EU level NGOs around the discussion table. They include the social NGO network Solidar, the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), the European Movement International (EMI) and several of its national sections.

Debate on reforming the ECI will continue on 13 April 2015 with The 2015 ECI Day hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels, and co-organised with the assistance of The ECI Campaign.

Background

The European Citizens' Initiative (ECI), as introduced by the Lisbon Treaty, allows citizens to request new EU legislation once a million signatures from seven member states have been collected asking the European Commission to do so.

Article 11 of the 2009 Lisbon Treaty says "not less than one million citizens who are nationals of a significant number of member states may take the initiative of inviting the European Commission, within the framework of its powers, to submit any appropriate proposal on matters where citizens consider that a legal act of the Union is required for the purpose of implementing the treaties".

12 responses to “Parliament gearing up for European Citizens’ Initiative review”

The ECI is one of those few things that will make the EU politically different from any other democracy, and enhance it beyond historical limits. It’s understandable the Commission is reluctant to fully implement the ECI in these days of Euro sceptisicm, but there can be no doubt that it will bring us well into the 21st century, draw large numbers of people into the political process and give a new face to the whole subject. If it takes a treaty change to properly implement, then please let us have it.

The UK has a something similar but is much simpler in operation. There is an official government petition website, if a petition gets more than 100,000 e-signatures it gets a debate in parliament.

I’ve just finished my reply to another of your posts and what has happened to the ECI is an excellent example of what is regarded as typical of the EU In the UK. An overly bureaucratic solution, badly implemented and then undemocratic powers used to kill off what little survived.

You can keep on wearing dark glasses and declaring the blue sky is black but if democracy were your priority then the the success of direct democracy initiatives would be of importance to you, whether at home in the UK, or in the greater format of the EU. From your stance however I make up that you would prefer to see democracy fail in the EU to vindicate your anti-EU opinions.
Britain has done a lot in the past to secure democracy in Europe but in this new millenium has reversed this by stealth. The global surveillance practices devised and implemented upon the world by the UK and US make us all less free, more vulnerable to government interference and have put the world on a slippery road towards a global dictatorship by the ultra- rich. The successful implementation of initiatives such as the ECI are the one thing that stand between this kind of future and the citizens of Europe.

@ devbod
You make a good point about petitions to the Downing street website. I have supported many myself and the simplicity of the system is its strength. To get 100000 nominations of support, probably with a bit of media support, is achievable by concerned citizens.

In theory the ECI should be equally achievable. However, 1,000,000 nominations from at least 7 countries with no common language and to an extent different values, coupled with EU beurocracy makes it a bit of a turn off.

Many posters try and compare the EU with the USA but if we think about it, there are too many obstacles to achieve that type of Federal State.

The ECI is a lie wrapped up in a blue & gold flag to look like democratic participation while the people of Europe & Great Britain made their views on the EU very clear at the MEP elections in May of last year with the overwhelming majority either having nothing to do with it or voting for anti EU parties.

The Commission rules the antidemocratic EU and no amount papering over the cracks will save it.